Israel will be “100%” at the Paris Games, says Yaël Arad

Yaël Arad, head of the Israeli Olympic Committee: “We will be 100% in Paris” for the Games. GETTY IMAGES

The president of the Israeli Olympic Committee, Yaël Arad, assured on Thursday that Israel would be present “100 per cent” at the Paris Olympics in 2024, just over two months after the outbreak of the conflict with Hamas.

“We are approaching the Olympics with the conviction that we will be there, 100 per cent, and that we will be able to participate like any other nation,” the former judoka said in an interview with French sports daily L’Équipe.

The unprecedented 7 October attack by the Islamist Hamas movement killed 1,140 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to a tally by AFP based on the latest official Israeli figures.

Israel responded with air strikes on Gaza, followed by a ground offensive. Israeli military operations have killed 20,000 people in Gaza since the war began, including at least 8,000 children and 6,200 women, the Hamas government said on Wednesday.

Flag bearers Evgeni Krasnopolski and Noa Szollos of Team Israel lead their team out during the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at the Beijing National Stadium on February 04, 2022 in Beijing.  GETTY IMAGES

Flag bearers Evgeni Krasnopolski and Noa Szollos of Team Israel lead their team out during the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at the Beijing National Stadium on February 04, 2022 in Beijing. GETTY IMAGES

“We are still in shock about October 7. It’s hard to go to sleep and wake up, everyone has lost someone close to them,” said Yaël Arad.

In his opinion, “it’s hard for athletes to imagine practising [their discipline] in such circumstances, to do anything other than help their compatriots”.

But the Israeli Olympic Committee has asked them to “leave the nation’s flag high at the Olympic Games”.

Israel’s first Olympic medallist and International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Yael Arad speaks to the media at the end of the 141st International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Mumbai on October 17, 2023. GETTY IMAGES

Arad, the -61kg Olympic runner-up in judo at Barcelona 1992, admitted that “in many countries today it is not safe [for Israeli athletes] to travel as a delegation”, especially in reference to February’s World Swimming Championships in Doha, a qualifier for Paris 2024.

“We are talking with Qatar and the IOC [International Olympic Committee] to study the alternatives… We are working on it,” she said.

Asked about fears of an attack like the 1972 Munich Olympics – 12 Israeli athletes and a German policeman were killed by the Palestinian commando group “Black September” – Yaël Arad said that “our Olympic family has to live with that”.

“Since Munich in 1972, our athletes have always received special attention,” he said. “You can be sure that, from our side, everything will be done to ensure our security,” he promised.

By Gustavo Muñana